INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

We are increasingly convicted that, for white Christians in America today, an inescapable implication of believing the gospel is to actively repent of and resist the systemic racism that has plagued our country for 400 years. Part of that is doing the hard work of living out in real, concrete actions our core belief that all human beings are created in the image of God. In terms of repentance, another part of this ongoing work is to unlearn what we thought we understood about the history of racism and the way it works today.

What we can truly “do” is commit to the lifelong work healing, starting with our own hearts and minds. We see this commitment as part of our mission to truly love our community in his name. 

We invite everyone in our community to pray about their next step in their own commitment to intercultural competency and humility. We deeply encourage you to make a life-long commitment to always be looking for next steps in this area. To help you in that discernment, here is a resource and action step list:

*These resources share many different perspectives – it is normal to wrestle and wonder if you are aligned with these perspectives. However, we encourage you to approach with curiosity and a goal to expand as a person, not merely find the right or perfect perspective.

Things to read if you are at the beginning of this journey:

  • Be The Bridge – Latasha Morrison
  • White Awake – Daniel Hill
  • Rethinking Incarceration – Domonique Gilliard
  • Why Are All the Black Sitting Together in The Cafeteria – Beverly Daniel Tatum

Things to read if you are needing to take next steps in this journey:

  • White Fragility: Why it’s So Hard For White People to Talk About Racism – Robin DiAngelo
  • Just Mercy – Bryan Stevenson
  • Between The World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander

Resources for talking to your kids about race:

Podcasts to Listen To:

Things to Watch:

  • Just Mercy
  • 13th Documentary (netflix)
  • When They See Us (netflix)
  • The Hate U Give

Things to join:

  • A book club with others who want to process what you are reading and learning (or start one!)
  • Follow someone or a group who thinks different than you
  • Join our upcoming Digital Learning Tracks as we watch, read and discuss some of the resources listed above (coming soon!)

Things to do:

  • Pray: repent and lament
  • Financially Support Minority Owned/Black Owned Businesses
  • Give funds to racial justice thought leaders: For instance Latasha Morrison – Be The Bridge
  • Believe people and listen when they share about experiencing injustice
  • Commit to stay in the conversation even when the hype about “incident” has passed and when it’s not as common to do so.